UA women take a pandemic trip

FAYETTEVILLE — Attention to detail goes far beyond just a game plan for University of Arkansas women’s basketball Coach Mike Neighbors during a pandemic.

The second road trip of the season for the No. 13 Razorbacks has Neighbors focused as much on seating charts to minimize possible contact tracing along with the 0-3 SMU Mustangs, who they take on tonight at 7 at Moody Coliseum.

Arkansas (5-1) will travel to Dallas today and take what Neighbors called a “skeleton crew” on the flight.

“We’re trying some unique things to be as covid sensitive as we can,” Neighbors said. “Consistently moving seats on the plane and the bus to not get that magical number of 15 minutes together. The plane’s big enough we should be OK. The bus creates some problems.”

“There’s a lot of new firsts for us in this. Knowing what I know about our leadership in the locker room, I think we’ll be OK.”

He’s paying attention to things such as not getting on an elevator in groups, not getting bags at the same time or even walking into a hotel together to minimize that close contact.

“We do all those things so that … when I want to go hug a kid, I’m going to go hug her,” said Neighbors, referring to celebrations after Sunday’s victory over defending national champion Baylor. “Because we have a big celebration, because the other times of the day we are apart.

“We’re still learning, but it’s part of the necessity for us to make sure our kids are … staying safe and still being able to compete. Because they want to do both. They don’t want an either-or. We have to worry about that so they don’t have to.”

He said how his team responds after the monumental Baylor victory is on his mind as well.

“It’s a really good test for us to enter some uncharted waters,” Neighbors said. “How do we handle that next game after the big game? We haven’t had that.”

SMU, which lost at Oklahoma State 75-63 on Monday, has some size, which always presents a challenge for the Razorbacks, Neighbors said.

“They’ve got a style that can give us some fits,” Neighbors said. “They play high-low and throw it inside. They try to guard the perimeter and take away the three. There are a lot of concerns, and when you couple those with everything we just talked about, they magnify.”

One reason the game was scheduled was to allow senior Taylah Thomas play in her hometown. It was scrapped when the start of the season was pushed back because of the pandemic, but Neighbors was happy to get to surprise Thomas a second time when the game was rescheduled.

“She’s excited, her family’s excited,” Neighbors said. “She’s got high school teammates in the area that are really excited for her to be there. Again, a chance to literally play in your hometown and not just in and around.”

The Razorbacks have a reputation for shooting lots of three-pointers, but they pulled off a big win Sunday while making just 5 of 20. The key was aggressively driving to the basket and drawing fouls.

Arkansas made 30 of 39 free throws compared to Baylor going 12 of 18. The Razorbacks were better than the Bears in the fourth quarter alone, making 14 of 18. It’s not just a one-time thing, either. The Razorbacks lead the country in free throws made (146) and attempted (198).

Arkansas has two players among the top five in the country in those categories. Senior Chelsea Dungee, who leads the team with 19.0 points per game, is the best in the country at getting to the foul line. She leads Division I in free throws attempted (59) and makes (45). Sophomore Makayla Daniels is tied for fourth in both categories with 33 made in 37 attempts. Sophomore Erynn Barnum is sixth with 33 attempts while coming off the bench.